Plugged In

PlayStation Network to open later this week

The ever-creeping deadline to get the PlayStation Network
fully operational has crept a little further out - but the company says it's
now confident everything will be up and running by the end of the week.

Sony, in a blog posting, said Monday that it expects to have its online service fully
operational by the end of the week. That's a few days later than the previous
vow to have it up and running by the end of the day - and more than a week
later than it told developer partners it hoped to have the PlayStation Store operational
again.

"We have been conducting additional testing and further
security verification of our commerce functions in order to bring the
PlayStation Network completely back online so that our fans can again enjoy the
first class entertainment experience they have come to love," said Kazuo Hirai,
Executive Deputy President of Sony. "We appreciate the patience and support
shown during this time."

The biggest result of a return to full functionality will be
the return of the PlayStation Store - allowing users to download content
ranging from small indie games to digital expansion packs for major releases
(such as Fallout: New Vegas, whose expansion went live for the Xbox 360 on May 17) to pre-order incentives for titles.

The relaunch will also return in-game commerce and the
ability to stream and rent music and video programming.

And, for users, a fully functional PlayStation Network will
mean they're finally able to use the Welcome Back package Sony is offering to
compensate for the April hacker attack (that resulted in personal information
from over 100 million user accounts being stolen) and the extended suspension
of online operations that followed as the company rebuilt the network.